Decorative lamp



March 6, 1956 E. c. FASSON 2,737,576

DEC ORAT IVE LAM P Filed Dec. 6, 1951 EM/L 6. FA SSON,

1N VEN TOR.

By if w A 7 TORNEY- United States DECURATIVE LAMP Emil C. Fasson,Inglewood, Calif.

Application December 6, 1951, Serial No. zsarss 8 Claims. (Cl. 24il10.1)

This invention relates to ornamental devices for use with lamps,referring more particularly to ornaments having rotary parts propelledby heated air currents generated by lamp bulbs. By way of example anddisclosure, the invention will be described herein as embodied in anornamental device especially suited for use in decorating Christmastrees. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the sameprinciples maybe applied to other specific purposes including thepurpose of attracting attention in advertising and in merchandisedisplay.

An ornamental device of the type to which the invention pertainscomprises essentially an ornamental hood of translucent material incombination with suitable bearing means for supporting the hood in afreely rotatable manner above a lamp bulb, the hood being provided withsuitable vanes for propulsion by the air currents.

Since such a device is designed for use in large numbers to decorateChristmas trees it must be of relatively inexpensive construction and,from the nature of its purpose and function, it is necessarily of lightweight and therefore is usually of a fragile construction that is easilydamaged. The decorative hood must be delicately poised on a relativelysharp bearing point for minimum rotational friction in order to respondto the relatively slight propelling force of heated air currents.Naturally such a bearing arrangement is highly vulnerable to damage. Thebearing usually comprises an upright pointed pin that is received in asocket incorporated in the construction of the rotary hood. The pin iseasily blunted and bent and both the pin and socket becomes dust-ladenin the long storage periods between Christmas seasons. The vanes forpropelling the hood may also be damaged by rough handling and thecolored surfaces of the rotary hood are usually fragile coatings ofpaint that are easily scratched, gouged and otherwise marred even whenhandled with extreme care.

The present invention avoids these various causes of damage anddeterioration by means of various features to provide an ornamentaldevice that is immune to ordinary damage both in use and in storage. Theresulting device, therefore, has a long service life both with respectto its mechanical operation and with respect to the freshness of itsdecorative efiect.

The invention attains these ends in part by providing stop or guardmeans to keep the pointed pin from escaping from the complementarybearing socket in the rotary hood and thereby prevents exposure todamage of either the pin point or the socket. Preferably the stopmeansis a second stationary hood, one of the two hoods enclosing the other.In the preferred form of the invention, the stationary hood is the outerof the two hoods and serves as a housing to protect the inner rotaryhood, with special reference to the vanes and the colored surfaces ofthe rotary hood.

The stationary hood of the device also completely encloses the lamp bulbwith which the device is func- 2,737,576 Fatented Mar. 6, 1956 tionallyassociated and thus prevents direct light from the lamp bulb fromdetracting from the decorative effect of the ornamental device itself. Afurther advantage of the preferred embodiment of the invention is thatthe stationary hood protects the lamp bulb while the ornamental deviceis in use and may be used as a storage container for the lamp bulb toafford complete protection for the bulb against damage between seasons.In this regard, a feature of the invention is the function of the lampbulb itself as a closure for the stationary hood to make the interiorthereof substantially dust-proof during the storage period.

The invention is further characterized by a closed construction that maybe readily opened for access to its interior and, moreover, is adaptedin a simple and advantageous manner for mounting on a lamp bulb to besupported therefrom. The stationary hood is further adapted forcooperation With the bearing that supports the rotary hood and makespossible the use of a simple pointed wire to support the rotary hood.

In a second embodiment of the invention the hoods are reversed in thatthe outer hoodrotates and the inner hood is stationary, but neverthelessthe stationary hood serves as stop means in the same general manner asin the first form of the invention.

The various features and advantages of the invention will be readilyunderstood from the following detailed description taken with theaccompanying drawings.

In the drawings, which are to be regarded as merely illustrative.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the presently preferred embodiment of theinvention;

Figure 2 is a vertical section taken as indicated by the line 22 ofFigure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragment of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary bottom view of the device;

Figure 5 is a sectional detail taken as indicated by the line 5-5 ofFigure 2; and

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 2 but showing in a reduced scale amodified form of the invention.

As best shown in Figure 2, the presently preferred embodiment of theinvention includes a rotary decorative hood, generally designated it),that is at least in part translucent and is rotatably supported by asuitable hearing comprising two bearing means, namely a pivot pin and asuitable complementary socket for the pin. Either of the two bearingmeans may be incorporated in the construction of the rotary hood 10 butin this instance the rotary hood includes a bearing means in the form ofa socket member 11 and the rotary hood is supported by a second bearingmeans in the form of a pointed pivot pin 12 that extends into the socketmember.

Considered with respect to the purpose of maintaining the pivot pin 12and the socket member 11 in mutual cooperative relationship, theinvention provides a stop means generally designated 15 that issupported from the lamp bulb L and extends around the rotary hood 10 tooverhang the hood at its axis of rotation in such manner as to preventwithdrawal of the pin from the socket member to any extent that may makethe device inoperative. The stop means 15 is in the form of a housing orsecond stationary hood as shown that completely encloses the rotary hoodit) and also encloses and supports the bearing on which the rotary hoodis mounted for rotation. As may be seen in Figure 2 the stationary hood15 also encloses the body portion 'of the lamp bulb L.

In the present construction the stationary hood 15 comprises a baseplate 16 of circular configuration together with a conical shell 17. Thebase plate 16 which may be either translucent or opaque is made offlexible material and is centrally cut away to form a plurality ofinwardly directed flexible tongues 20 adapted to embrace the lamp bulb Lnear its threaded metal base 21 in the manner shown in Figure 2. Byvirtue of this construction it is merely necessary to thrust the lampbulb L downward through the center of the base plate 16 to have theflexible tongues 20 engage the lamp bulb with sufficient effectivenessto support the housing in the manner shown. The ends of the tongues mayabut the upper edge of the threaded base 21 of the lamp L as shown inFigure 2 but instead the tongue ends may abut the rim of the lamp socketmember in which the lamp bulb L is mounted, such a lamp socket memberbeing indicated in dotted lines at 22 in Figure 2.

The base plate 16 and the conical shell 17 of the stationary hood 15 areadapted for mutual engagement preferably in a manner that readilypermits their disengagement for access to the interior of the stationaryhood. For this purpose the base plate 16 may be formed with an upturnedrim flange 25 to form a seat for the conical shell 17 and may beprovided with relatively short slots 26 at spaced points near itsperiphery to receive corresponding tongues 27 that extend downward fromthe bottom edge of the conical shell. As best shown in Figure 5 the endof each tongue 27 is split and formed with two divergent tabs 28 so thatthe outer end of the tongue is enlarged in width for secure engagementwith the slot 26 but may be contracted for movement of the tongue intoor out of the slot.

The conical shell 17 of the stationary hood 15 is preferably molded inone piece from translucent plastic material having the propertiesrequired for the described cooperation of the tongues 27 with the slots26. To serve its purpose as a stop means or guard for the bearing meansthat supports the rotary hood 10, the conical shell 17 is formed with asolid apex body 29 that provides a downwardly presented stop surface 30overhanging the upper end of the rotary hood.

Preferably at least one surface of the conical shell 17 is of brokenconfiguration to provide reflection faces at various angles forrefraction of light projected from inside the stationary hood. For thispurpose the outer surface of the conical shell 17 may, for example, bebroken by a series of concentric grooves 34 and the inner surface of theconical shell may be broken by a series of longitudinal grooves 35aligned radially with respect to the apex of the shell. The conicalshell 17 is also provided with suitable vent holes 36 to permit theescape of heated air from the interior of the stationary hood 15 and tocause the air to move in upwardly directed currents through the rotaryhood 10. The vent holes 36 may be located in the uppermost concentricgroove 34 as best shown in Figures 1 and 3.

The pivot pin 12, which has a sharp upwardly extending point as shown,is part of a wire member generally designated 37 that has an offset 38conforming to the configuration of the lamp bulb L. The wire member 37is formed with a ring 40 that serves as a base to rest on the base plate16 of the stationary hood 15 in the manner shown in Figure 2. It iscontemplated that the unrestrained diameter of the ring 40, shown inFigure 2, will be somewhat larger than the restrained diameter of thering when the wire member 37 is mounted in the fully assembled device asshown in Figure 2. As a consequence the wire ring 40 is confined undersutficient stress in the completely assembled device to provide a stableand efiicient supporting base for the bearing pin 12.

The decorative rotary hood 10 is at least in part translucent andpreferably is made in one piece of suitable transparent plastic materialwith the socket member 11 unitary therewith. A feature of the inventionis that the socket member 11 may be in the form of a hollow rivet asshown, such a rivet being a common article of commerce. It will be notedin Figure 3 that in my preferred construction the clearance between thetop surface 41 of the socket member 11 and the stop surface 30 providedby the stationary hood 15 is less than the depth of the recess or socketprovided by the socket member 11. It is apparent, therefore, that thestop surface 30 will positively prevent retraction of the socket member11 from the bearing pin 12. Even if the stationary hood 15 is turnedupside down to cause the decorative hood 10 to drop away from thebearing pin 12 the point of the bearing pin will still be within theconfines of the socket member 11. In this aspect of the invention whatis required in all instances is that the rotary hood 10 provide suitableconical surfaces to lead the point of the bearing pin 12 back to itseffective control position in the socket member 11 regardless of theextent to which the bearing pin may be displaced from that position inthe handling and storage of the device. It is apparent, therefore, thatthe conical inner surface of the rotary hood 10 as well as the conicalinterior surfaces of the socket member 11 may serve this purpose.

The upper portion of the rotary hood 10 is suitably slit and deformed toprovide suitably inclined vanes 45 so that air heated by the lamp L willflow upward past the vanes 45 to the previously mentioned vent holes 36in the stationary hood 15 and in doing so will exert propelling force tocause rotation of the hood. Figure 2 shows the vanes 45 as well as theopenings 46 through the rotary hood formed by the vanes.

The rotary hood 10 is preferably varicolored so that light transmittedoutward therethrough will project a varicolored pattern of light ontothe inner surface of the surrounding stationary hood 15. The requiredcoloring may be incorporated in the plastic material of the rotary hood10 or may be provided by suitable paint of translucent character appliedto the rotary hood. In the preferred embodiment of the invention shownin the drawings the outer surface of the rotary hood 10 is divided intonumerous areas 47 by intersecting grooves 48 and the areas 47 arevariously colored by paint coatings. One advantage of employing grooves48 is that they provide relatively bright lines of light bounding thevarious colored areas 47 and such an effect is desirable in somepractices of the invention.

When the described device is assembled for service as indicated inFigure 2, air entering the outer stationary hood in the slits betweenthe tongues 20 is heated by the lamp L and flows upward through theopenings 46 in the hood 10 to escape outward through the vent holes 36in the stationary hood 15. Thus, air currents continually act on thevanes 45 to cause the delicately poised rotary hood 10 to rotate on thesharp point provided by the hearing pin 12. As the hood 10 rotates thevaricolored pattern of light projected therefrom onto the inner surfaceof the stationary hood 15 produces a pleasing decorative effect in whicheach separate colored portion of the projected light moves along andacross various grooves 34 and 35 in the statinary hood 15 withconsequent refraction of the light by the grooves. It will be noted thatthe grooves 34 and 35 in effect divide the area of the stationary hood15 into numerous segments and apart from the pleasing refractive effectof the grooves, there is a certain pleasing effect in the movement ofthe varicolored light pattern across the segmentally divided surface.

If it is necessary to replace a lamp bulb L or, on rare occasions, toadjust the wire member 37 with respect to alignment of the bearing pin12, it is a simple matter to lift the conical shell 17 of the stationaryhood away from the base plate 16, the tongues 27 being withdrawn throughthe slots 26 in the process. The configuration and flexibility of thetongues 27 is such that they may be readily reinserted in the slots 26for reassembling the device.

For the purpose of storing the ornamental device between seasons thelamp bulbs L may be left in position as shown in Figure 2 so that thestationary hood 15 serves, in effect, as a protective container for thebulb L. The stationary hood 15 not only protects the bulb L during thestorage period but also completely protects the rotary hood with specialreference to its painted surfaces and to the vanes 45. While the deviceis in storage the stationary hood also prevents retraction of thebearing pin 12 from the socket member 11 to any inoperative extent sothat it is merely necessary to place the stationary hood in uprightposition to cause the socket member 11 and the bearing pin 12 to moveinto their normal cooperative relationship. While the device is instorage the outer stationary hood 15 serves as a dust-proof protectorand any dust that settled thereon may be readily wiped away. It will benoted that the outer stationaryhood 15 is of relatively ruggedconstruction and does not have any surfaces such as colored paintedsurfaces that are vulnerable to damage by ordinary handling.

In the second form of the invention shown in Figure 6 there is the samegeneral combination of an inner hood 60 and an outer hood 61 but in thisconstruction the outer hood rotates and the inner hood is stationary.

The inner hood 60 comprises a conical shell 62 closed at the bottom by abase plate 63. The base plate 63 has a central aperture with inwardlydirected tongues 64 to engage the lamp bulb L as before described. Theinner hood has upper vent holes 65 to release heated air from itsinterior and has a pointed pivot or bearing pin 66 embedded in its apexto support the outer rotary hood 61. For access to the interior, theshell 62 is releasably mounted on the base plate 63 by contractiletongues 68 extending through suitable slots, as heretofore described.Preferably the outer surface of the shell 62 is divided into variouscolored areas 70.

The outer rotary hood 61 has a conical shell 71 carrying a hollowbearing member 72 in its apex to receive the pointed bearing pin 66 sothat outer hood may rotate freely. To cause such rotation the outershell 71 is formed with suitable vanes 73. The outer shell 71 may befrosted, or varicolored and may have a smooth surface or surfaces brokenby grooves as heretofore described.

At the bottom of the outer shell 71 is mounted a releasable guard ring75, the shell having contractile tongues 76 engaged in suitable slots inthe guard ring. It will be noted that the inner diameter of the guardring 75 is smaller than the diameter of the base plate 63 of the innerstationary hood 60. Thus the inner stationary hood 60 serves as a stopto limit upward movement of the hollow bearing member 72 away from thebearing pin 66, and it can be seen that the two bearing means 66 and 72can not be separated to the extent of making the device inoperative.

One advantage of this second form of the invention is that the heatingof air to actuate the rotary hood occurs not only inside the inner hood,but also in the extensive space between the inner shell 62 and the outershell 71.

My specific description of the presently preferred embodiments of theinvention will suggest to those skilled in the art various substitutionsand changes that depart from my disclosure but lie within the spirit andscope of my appended claims.

I claim:

1. An ornament for use with an upright lamp bulb, comprising: a conicalstationary hood of translucent material having a bottom wall formed withtongues to embrace the base of said lamp; a wire member inside said hoodhaving a circular base portion resting on the bottom wall of the hood,said wire having a pointed end extending upward towards the apex of thehood; and a conical rotary hood of translucent material inside saidstationary hood having a downwardly presented bearing socket receivingsaid pointed end of the wire member for rotary support, said rotary hoodhaving vanes for propulsion by air currents generated by the heat of thelamp.

2. An ornament as set forth in claim 1 in which said stationary hoodprovides a stop to prevent axial movement of said rotary hood sufiicientto separate said socket from said pointed end.

3. An ornament as set forth in claim 1 in which said hood has avaricolored pattern of translucent portions and reased said housing hasgrooves to provide surfaces for retracting light from the hood.

4. An ornament for use with an incandescent lamp bulb having a threadedbase, comprising: a disc having a centrally located aperture therein forpassing the base of the incandescent lamp; mea'ns carried adjacent saidopening for engaging said lamp 'for rigidly mounting said disc theretoafter the base of said bulb is threaded into a socket; a conical hood oftranslucent material; means carried'by said hood interlockingly engagedwith said disc for detachably mounting said hood thereto whereby thelatter extends upwardly from said disc and is normally held againstremoval from said bulb; a second hood; bearing means for supporting saidsecond hood for rotation about an axis coincident with the axis of saidfirst hood whereby light rays from said lamp pass through the Walls ofboth said hoods; and means carried by one of said hoods and engageablewith means carried by the other of said hoods for holding said hoodsagainst separation and accidental displacement sufficient to disengagethe rotary hood from said bearing means.

5. An ornament for use with an incandescent lamp bulb, comprising: apair of hollow conical hoods of translucent material; means carried byone of said hoods for detachably mounting said one hood to said lampwhereby said one hood is releasably mounted to said lamp and heldagainst accidental separation therefrom; a first bearing means mountedon the other of said hoods at its apex; a second bearing means supportedby the hood detachably mountable to said lamp engaging said firstbearing means to support said other hood for rotation, said firstbearing means forming a recess to seat the other bearing means; stopmeans carried by one of said hoods and engageable with stop meanscarried by the other of said hoods to limit relative movement of saidhoods in the direction of separation of said bearing means, the normalclearance between said stop means being less than the depth of therecess of said first bearing means, thereby to prevent displacement ofthe other of said bearing means from said recess and holding said hoodsagainst separation, each of said hoods being formed with openings forpassing thermal currents produced by the heat of said lamp; and vanescarried by said rotatably supported hood adjacent the openings therein,whereby said hood is rotatably driven by said thermal currents.

6. An ornament for use with an incandescent lamp bulb, comprising: apair of hollow conical hoods of translucent material, one of said hoodsenclosing the other; a disc of translucent material having a centrallylocated opening for releasably receiving the base of the incandescentlamp; means for detachably mounting said disc to the base of the outerhood, whereby said ornament is superimposed over said lamp; a firstbearing means supported by said disc extending upwardly over said lamp;second bearing means carried by the inner hood and engaged by the firstbearing means for supporting said inner hood for rotation about an axiscoincident with the axes of said hoods; cooperating means carried byeach of said hoods for holding said hoods against movement sufiicient todisengage said bearing means, each of said hoods being formed withopenings for passing thermal currents produced by the heat of said lamp;and vanes carried by said inner hood adjacent the openings thereinwhereby said hood is rotatably driven by said thermal currents.

7. An ornament for use with an incandescent lamp bulb, comprising: apair of hollow conical hoods of translucent material, one of said hoodsenclosing the other; a disc of translucent material having a centrallylocated opening for releasably receiving the base of the incandescentlamp; means for detachably mounting asid disc to the base of the innerhood, whereby said inner hood is superimposed over said lamp; a firstbearing means carried by the upper portion of said inner hood andextending upwardly therefrom; second bearing means carried by the outerhood and engaged by the first bearing means for supporting said outerhood for rotation about an axis coincident with the axes of said hoods;cooperating means carried by each of said hoods for holding said hoodsagainst movement sufficient to disengage said bearing means, each ofsaid hoods being formed with openings for passing thermal currentsproduced by the heat of said lamp; and vanes carried by said outer hoodadjacent the openings therein whereby said hood is rotatably driven bysaid thermal currents.

8. An ornament to be mounted above an incandescent lamp, comprising: astationary outer element having an upper conical wall element oftranslucent material formed with a plurality of apertures for passingthermal air currents produced by the heat of said incandescent lamp whenenergized and an apertured lower wall element; a wire member carried bysaid lower wall element and extending upwardly within said outer elementto present a coaxially arranged bearing support; an inner element formedwith a plurality of vanes for propulsion by the thermal air currentsgenerated by the heat of said lamp; a downwardly presented bearingsocket carried by said inner element at the axial center thereof, saidbearing support extending upwardly into said bearing socket forrotatably supporting said inner element; and a stop member projectingaxially downwardly from the apex of said conical wall element withinsaid'outer element to limit axial movement of said inner element to adistance less than the depth of said bearing socket to thereby preventaxial movement of said inner element sufficient to separate said socketfrom said bearing support.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,042,979 Seessle Oct. 29, 1912 1,178,764 Watanabe Apr. 11, 19162,248,117 Petry July 8, 1941 2,345,517 Weiss Mar. 28, 1944 2,398,974Storm Apr. 23, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 281,552 Great Britain Dec. 8, 1927

